THIEVES made off with a seven-and-a-half tonne haul on Sunday when they stole a lorry from a town centre business.

It is not the first time the Butts Road-based removals firm Moving Me Now Ltd has fallen foul of thieves. During the past 14 months two cars have been stolen from the company and five car windows have been smashed while vehicles have been parked at the premises.

“It’s awful,” said manager Jason Wilgeroth. “I was a policeman in Woking for three years and the amount of car crime this area suffers is just madness.

“Obviously we are fully insured but we have to pay the excess. We are family-run, not a corporate firm, so everything we pay for comes out of our business.

“We don’t have a massive cash-flow and have had to hire lorries to back up what we’ve lost. It is costing about £150 a day to put right what is wrong. It’s a nightmare.”

The unit is leased from Woking Borough Council at a special rate for new businesses but Mr Wilgeroth said any savings were being negated by the level of crime in the area.

He said: “It is losing us more money being there than it would be if we were leasing lorries privately.”

Mr Wilgeroth said the council was letting him down with the scant security it provided through the Business Watch organisation and the lack of lighting in Butts Road.

He said: “The service has been awful but from Business Watch’s point of view, it is doing what it is paid to do. The council pays for it to drive around once a day but that could be at 5pm. There is no security.”

Sally Elder, the council’s valuation services manager, said: “We are aware that a tenant at Butts Road had a vehicle stolen a couple of nights ago and vehicles left on the estate overnight have been vandalised in the past. “In response to this, we recruited a security contractor to carry out nightly visits and installed external security lights. In addition, we are obtaining quotes for installation of CCTV at the site.”

The lorry, registration number R914 WBM, was stolen between 9pm on Sunday and 7.30am on Monday. It is described as a plain white box lorry with a rusty tailgate.

Anyone with information should call Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222, quoting crime reference number D/07/14232. Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be called, anonymously and free of charge, on 0800 555 111.